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“Wait, you told me you were using condoms with everyone else,” she says, narrowing her eyes at me.
“No, I said the only person who I haven't used condoms with is you, and that’s true.”
She scratches her head. “I don’t understand any of this.”
“Don’t you, Mags?”
She blinks twice.
“Don’t you, Maggie?” I repeat. “I’ve had feeling for you for much longer than this year.”
Her eyes widen.
“I know I wasn’t supposed to have feelings for you, but I have – for years.”
She starts blinking rapidly. “What?”
“When everything happened with Cole...the thought of losing you, Maggie – of seeing you hurt. It was like a physical pain that I’d never experienced in my life.”
A tear spills from the corner of her eye. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s not what you wanted. You were still with other people and...”
“I wasn’t,” she interrupts.
I stop talking. Surely, I misheard her.
“I wasn’t with other people, Declan. I haven’t been with anyone else either.”
“But you always said you didn’t want a relationship,” I say.
She sighs and says, “It’s what I thought I wanted. I guess it was what I wanted back then, but...”
“Not anymore?”
She nods.
I run my hand over my mouth and chin. “This is why I freaked out so much originally when you asked me to get you pregnant. I knew it would mean so much to me. I knew it would be near impossible for me to walk away, and I knew I’d never say no to you.”
“Why not?” There’s a tear rolling down her cheek. I lean forward and brush it away with my thumb.
“Because I love you.”
She stops trying to blink away the tears.
“Maggie, I’ve loved you for years, and you wanted a baby more than anything in the world. I’d do anything to make you happy. I would have kept trying for years to make you happy.”
Tears spill from her eyes, and she chokes back a sob. “Why didn’t you say something after we got pregnant?”
“You were so angry with me.”
Her shoulders sag.
“And then we were managing to get along, and I couldn’t risk pushing you away.”
“I thought you’d never settle down. I thought you loved traveling and having one adventure after another.”
“I do love that, but I love you more.”
